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Olympic snowboarder seriously injured in Whistler back-country

Canadian Olympic snowboarder Mark McMorris was injured in the back-country over the weekend.

McMorris was in Whistler for a snowboarding trip and sustained several injuries in an incident on Saturday. A statement from Canada Snowboard says those injuries include a fractured jaw, fractured left arm, ruptured spleen, a stable pelvic fracture, rib fractures and a collapsed left lung.

He was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and underwent a successful, minimally invasive surgery the same day to control bleeding to the spleen. The Olympian underwent a second surgery, successfully on Sunday evening to repair fractures to his jaw and arm.

Doctor Rodney J. French, Canada Snowboard Team Physician says it’s too early to speculate for a timeline on his recovery. Canada Snowboard’s Executive Director, Patrick Jarvis said he believed that McMorris would be prepared for rehabilitation required to make a comeback to competition in the lead up to PyeongChang 2018; “We fully support Mark and he is already under the incredible care of the staff of the Vancouver General Hospital.” said Jarvis. “Mark has shown incredible resilience and commitment to recovering from injury and we know that PyeongChang 2018 will be a strong motivation for his comeback”.